SORROW KNOWS: A TRIBUTE TO JEFFREY LEE PIERCE AND THE GUN CLUB
This was a highly anticipated event, and it delivered!
Major props to the bartender that sat in front of this sign for what seemed like an hour hand writing in all of these performers names!!! On both sides!!!
I got to play bass in 2 sets, the first and last. The first set consisted of some later Gun Club material as well as a couple of Jeffrey Lee Pierce solo cuts from his album ‘Wildweed’.
I embedded a few highlight videos in this post, but I also provide links for any performance video available in the set list below which will likely be updated as stuff rolls in. Follow this playlist for any youtube additions from this very special evening.
We ripped through the first 3 songs and loosened up with Eric Moffat on guitar and vocals, JC Doormats on guitar, Jose Alvarez on Drums and myself on bass.
Then we brought up ‘Bernadette from Detroit’ who sang 2 songs, powerful versions of ‘Bad Indian’ and ‘Sleeping in Blood City’ followed by a ripping rendition of ‘Run Through the Jungle’ sang by JC Doormats.
SLEEPING IN BLOOD CITY
Then Rykarda Parasol came up and did her version of ‘She’s Like Heroin to Me’ and sang ‘Fire of Love’ with us and backing vocals on ‘Brother and Sister’ which Eric sang lead on. Performing with Rykarda was a great experience and her voice is a powerful instrument. I look forward to her album due out in the Fall.
Next up to close out the first set was my singer in Andalusia Rose Wendy Lee Gadzuk. She performed ‘Wildweed’ and ‘Love and Desperation’ which did me proud. It was her first time performing without a guitar and she killed it.
WILDWEED
First Set:
She’s Like Heroin to Me
Fire of Love
ISAIAH MITCHELL (EARTHLESS)
Next up was Isaiah Mitchell with powerhouse drummer Jon Weiss. Eric stayed up there for more abuse and joining them on bass was Kurt Tindle. Also joining them for a couple songs was Mark Eitzel.
Before they played, door guy SB Stokes came up and read some original Gun Club inspired poetry!
They performed:
Thunderhead
Lupita Screams
Straits of Love and Hate
Yellow Eyes
Sorrow Knows (Mark Eitzel Sings)
Go Tell the Mountain (Isaiah Mitchell/vox)
Crowd shot
PETER CASE/TOM HEYMAN AND THE 22ND ST. IRREGULARS
The third set was delivered by this supergroup consisting of Tom Heyman, Peter Case (Plimsouls/The Nerves) w/Dan Carr on bass and it’s unclear to me who the drummer was, I’ll update when I find out.
They were amazing and loose and their renditions did not disappoint. If that wasn’t enough of a treat, they also dusted off a song that Peter Case wrote with Jeffrey Lee that was done by The Nomads called ‘Call Off Your Dogs’
At the end punk legend Penelope Houston (Avengers) came up and sang ‘Mother of Earth)
22nd St. Irregulars Set:
My Dreams (Peter Case)
Call off yr dogs (Peter Case)
Mother of Earth (Penelope Houston)
Cory Allen Porter came up and did his renditions of ‘Secret Fires’ and ‘Carry Home’. He was a solo acoustic artist who did some campfire renditions that kept a nice vibe going while the next band set up. Directly followed by Spike Slawson (Me First and The Gimmie Gimmies/Uke Hunt) who did a stellar Uke version of ‘Sex Beat’
FINAL SET
The final line up consisted of Jozef Becker on drums, Doug Hilsinger on guitar/vox, Eric Moffat on guitar/vox, myself on bass.
Doug Hilsinger opened it up with what I originally perceived to be a daunting song to learn ‘My Man is Gone Now’ by Gershwin from “Porgy and Bess’. When we first tackled it I picked it up pretty easily and really enjoyed doing this version with Doug singing it.
Equally enjoyable to play was ‘Bad America’ with a monstrous backbeat provided by Jozef Becker (Game Theory/Loud Family/Thin White Rope) and Doug on vocals, he also sang ‘Promise Me’ quite nicely.
Next guest vocalist Danny Pearson (American Music Club) absolutely smashed ‘Fire Spirit’ I’ll let you see for yourself:
Next guest vocalist was also a blast to play with, really a charismatic performer who has a tribute band with Jozef Becker called ‘The Gene Genies’ they do Bowie. This was Geoff Ball, I didn’t get any pics as I was playing but here’s a good vid:
Spike Slawson
A spine tingling performance from Spike Slawson of ‘Preaching the Blues’ hit on every level, I got chills playing it. I’ll let this performance speak for itself as well.
KID CONGO POWERS
Up next we had Greg Dale come up and sing ‘Give Up the Sun’ and the Kid caMe up for ‘Walking with the Beast’ which began with a a luscious wall of sound as Kid leaned into his amp with the guitar headstock.
We proceeded to ‘Walk With the Beast’…
My video had cut out at this point, so this footage will eventually be available as there was a pro camera set up for the whole thing, follow the playlist for updates. In the meantime, enjoy this one I shot from the hip on my iphone.
SEX BEAT (FEATURING KID CONGO POWERS)
It was also Kids birthday a couple days before, so everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and there was cake!!!
That was an amazing experience and even Kid said to someone that ‘Jeffrey would have loved it!’
Stay tuned for the next adventure!
Great Retelling Of The Story Of An Epic Night Jeff!
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Thank you for participating! Followed your blog btw, my wife and I live in The Crocker Amazon area of SF and we have quite a bit of yard space so, I hope to glean some info. We’ve been experimenting a bit, but still not sure what to do out there!
Cheers!
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